Thermal Analysis of Zone-Melting Recrystallization of Silicon-on-Insulator Structures with an Infrared Heat Source: An overview

Thermal processing of semiconductive multilayer thin film structures is used extensively for material quality enhancement. The quality of the resultant material is highly dependent on the heat transfer dynamics of the process. Although trial and error techniques are still used for process parameter optimization, efforts have been made tounderstand the fundamental heat transfer mechanisms involved. This paper presents an verview of studies on thermal issues that affect the material quality of multilayer thin film structures during processing with an infrared heat source. Emphasis is placed on investigations of zone-melting recrystallization of silicon-on-insulator structures using a graphite strip as a heat source. Studies on the conduction, macroscale and microscale radiation, processing chamber convection, scan speed, and constitutional supercooling are reviewed. Analyses of thermally driven instabilities at the solid-liquid interface are reported. Areas where further research is needed are also identified. © 1991, The Electrochemical Society, Inc. All rights reserved